I suspect that the zealously theorising Bertolt Brecht may have liked this transcultural reinvention of his anti-war play Mother Courage And Her Children. Then again, Brecht did not want his audience to overly sympathise with Mother Courage, and it is hard not to warm to the funny, stoic and desolate character that Jaram Lee has created; one who suffers so abominably from war even as she exploits it for profit.

Setting this version apart is that it is performed within Korea's ancient Pansori tradition, which brings together singing, drumming, storytelling and acting. Lee narrated and played all 25-odd characters, accompanied by two percussionists and a bassist/guitarist.

Brecht would have approved of her sometimes stepping outside the show, as when she asked our indulgence while she paused to slake her thirst, and would have been intrigued by how Pansori's ritualistic elements interacted with his epic theatre and Marxist theories.

Lee's performance was as towering as she was diminutive. Her Mother Courage was initially funnier than Brecht's – until her children started dying. She swapped between characters with negligible adjustments to her dress and with no props beyond a fan that represented anything from a table to a rifle.

Brecht's play contained several songs, and here Lee stepped into idioms closer to pop or pastiche. But the real musical interest lay within Pansori and her interaction with the percussionists. Superficially austere, this music was rich on a micro-melodic level and was lent momentum by the dramatic charge of singer and drummer converging on stressed beats within rhythmic patterns.

As well as performing, Lee wrote the script and songs. She was directed by In Woo Nam, who expanded the scope of the theatricality as the slightly over-long show journeyed towards its end. A highlight came when Lee told us that, as we knew, Courage's mute daughter could not speak, so she, Lee, would express her feelings in words, and then delivered the show's one unaccompanied piece. The effect was devastating.